This invention relates to sporting goods and more particularly to instruments used in the game of golf.
As the game of golf has become more popular, a wide variety of aids have been developed to speed the game, assist various aspects of the game, or to assist the golfer in improving his or her score.
The game of golf is controlled by a large number of rules which dictate when "penalty strokes" must be added to the score. If these penalty strokes are minimized or eliminated, then the golfer's effectiveness can be improved.
One such rule relates to lost balls or balls that cannot be located because they are in the rough. The rules provide for the taking of penalty strokes when a ball cannot be found.
Further, golf balls themselves are no longer inexpensive and the loss of balls during the game can become an aggravating experience.
Numerous different apparatuses have been developed to assist the golfer in locating a wayward ball. These efforts have generally been divided between modifying the golf ball itself, and the development of instruments to locate the ball.
In the area of golf ball modification falls such examples as: U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,055, entitled "Golf Ball Including Sound Emitting Means" issued to Barnhill on May 12, 1992: U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,039, entitled "System for Locating a Sport Object" and issued to Barricks et al. on Apr. 21, 1987; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,697, issued to Gulick et al. on Jul. 20, 1993, and entitled "Glow-in-the-Dark Golf Ball". These devices, respectively, attempt to make the ball easier to find by: implanting beepers in the golf ball, applying reflective tape to the outside of the golf ball, and coloring the golf ball.
Although each of these techniques do provide a heightened level of "findability", they also are extremely disruptive to the traditional game of golf and require highly specialized and obvious equipment modification. Even more disturbing is the fact that these modifications to the golf ball have affects on the ball's flight characteristics which may cost the player more strokes than they save in penalties.
An example of the apparatus which have been developed in assisting in finding a golf ball include U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,622, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Locating and Retrieving a Golf Ball having a Metal Center" issued to Valentino on Jul. 21, 1992 (incorporated hereinto by reference). In this application, again the golf ball must be modified to include an iron or other metal center. This modification dramatically affects the golf ball's playing characteristic.
Further, this apparatus merely indicates when the end of the probe is "near" the ball rather than any true directional aid.
It is clear that there is a need for an effective golf ball locating apparatus.